Interapt’s Week with the University of Louisville

The University of Louisville is critical to the development of the pool of talent in Louisville and the surrounding region, but two events hosted by the university this week prove its reach can affect change and drive innovation far beyond those borders. Interapt was proud to be involved in both the Cardinal Challenge and the Business and Engineering Career Fair over the past week.

The Cardinal Challenge, hosted by the universitys College of Business, is a business plan competition that hosts teams from all over the country who compete for a chance to receive $100k in winnings and in-kind services from the university. Winners also qualify for the Global Venture Labs Investment Competition (GVLIC) in Texas, which awards a large cash prize (potentially upwards of $1 million) to help winners start their business. The competition concluded last weekend, and the NanDio team from the University of Notre Dame were chosen as winners.

Interapt offered $25,000 in design and strategic consulting services as part of a Launch In Louisville package for the winner of the competition. When asked why Interapt chose to be a part of the event, CEO Ankur Gopal talked about working with Dr. Sharon Kerrick, the Associate Director of Entrepreneurship at UofLs College of Business. I felt proud to offer Interapt’s services to Dr. Kerrick. The Cardinal Challenge is such a great event to showcase startups, and at Interapt, weve already worked with numerous startups and Fortune 500 companies, so this is just one way for us to give back. Gopal added, “This kind of event helps prove that high-tech startups are possible in Kentucky, and especially here. Louisville embraces entrepreneurship and helps startups grow–we’re living proof of that.”

Interapts Manager of Operations, Hunter Gerlach, attended the Saturday event and live-tweeted it so our followers could stay informed as teams progressed through the final rounds of the competition. When asked why he felt compelled to attend in person, Gerlach said, We like the opportunity to see new ideas and emerging tech that will soon be in the marketplace, so we can identify trends before they mature. We like to keep our finger on the pulse of the entrepreneurship community, both here and across the nation.

The Business and Engineering Career Fair, which took place yesterday, is offered via the College of Business’s Ulmer Career Management Center and the J.B. Speed School of Engineering. At this event, UofLs best and brightest from the two colleges submit résumés and interact with talent recruiters and staff from employers with a presence in Louisville, such as UPS, Target, Humana, and Toyota. Interapt set up our own booth and met plenty of enthusiastic prospective interns, and overall enjoyed the experience. UofL does a good job of getting the word out to students that they should attend, said Gerlach. Students are prepared to talk to us, and they do a good job of being efficient and knowing which booths they want to visit.

In fact, one of Interapts current interns, James Schroeder, offered up his experience as an Interapt intern with students who stopped by the Interapt booth. I told them it is an intense learning experience, and certainly not going to be getting coffee. Youll have a lot of responsibility and youll get a chance to try out many roles. The general philosophy at Interapt is trial by fire, which helps me identify my strengths, but more importantly address my weaknesses. Because an internship is the time to discover and improve on those weaknesses.

James is not aloneInterapt indeed has several interns from UofLs programs, and in fact has a few full-time employees, such as Hunter Gerlach, who earned their current role through internships Interapt arranged through the university. If youd like to inquire about open internships at Interapt, please reach out to us at info@interapthq.com!